YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Most of the excitement in Friday's trade occurred before the open as market participants awaited and reacted to a mixed Q2 GDP reading, as the major indices stuck to a slight trading range throughout the session and settled near the unchanged mark.

The advance Q2 GDP report showed the economy contracted at an annualized rate of -1.0%, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of decline. That was much improved from a downwardly revised -6.4% (from -5.5%) in the first quarter and it was also better than the expected -1.5% decline.

Personal consumption expenditures, which are the main driver of the economy, fell at an annualized rate of -1.2%. This was worse than the expected decline of 0.5%.

The market's reaction to the report in premarket trading was negative, with S&P 500 futures losing around 10 points. But the market managed to open nearly unchanged, and traded in a range-bound fashion throughout the session.

In the end, five of the ten sectors advanced, led by materials (+0.9%) as commodity prices rose.  The utilities sector underperformed with a loss of 1.1%.

In corporate news, Ford (F 8.00, +0.61 ) got a lift on early reports that on word that the "cash-for-clunkers" programs could get $2 billion in additional funding through Sept. 2010, which the House of Representatives passed later in the afternoon. The move comes after the original program's budget of $1 billion may have been used in less than a month.

Walt Disney (DIS 25.12, -1.10) fell 4.2%. The company reported nearly in-line EPS, but its revenue dropped by a larger-than-expected 6.9% year-over-year.

Chevron (CVX  69.47, +1.77) this morning reported Q2 EPS of $0.87, which missed the consensus of $0.95. Net income dropped 71% year-over-year due to the sharp decline in oil and natural gas prices.

In commodity trading, oil and precious metals closed significantly higher, benefiting from a 1.2% decline in the Dollar Index. Gold futures rose 2.0% to $954.00 per ounce and oil futures climbed  up 3.3% to $69.15 per barrel.

The dollar's decline comes despite strength in the long end of the Treasury curve, with the 10-year note advancing a point and the 30-year bond up nearly two points.

The S&P 500 surged 7.4% in July, marking the fifth consecutive monthly gain.DJ30 +17.15 NASDAQ -5.80 SP500 +0.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1282/2.27 bln/1356 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1879/1.52 bln/1137